Grinding of rollers



May 9, 1950 R. H. CRAMER GRINDING 0F ROLLERS Filed Jan. 4, 1947 !FigA-HIS ATTORNEM Patented May 9, 1950 GRINDING OF ROLLERS Raymond B. Cramer,Bloomfield, N. .L, aslignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit,Micla, a corporation of Delaware Application January 4, 1947, Serial No.720,247

" 14 Claims. (Cl. 51-74) This invention relates to the grinding ofrollers and is especially adapted for the grinding of rollers which arecurved lengthwise such as barrel shaped rollers. An object of theinvention is to provide a machine for grinding barrel-shaped and otherrollers in each direction of oscillation of a regulating wheel and workblade, the regulating wheel having two intersecting surfaces conformingto the rollers, and the work blade having two work rests usedalternately.

To this end and also to improve generally upon machines of this generalcharacter, the invention consists in the various matters hereinafterdescribed and claimed. In its broader aspects, the invention is notnecessarily limited to the specific construction selected forillustrative purposes in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view with two work feeders in section;

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1, parts being omitted;

Fig. 3 is a side view chiefly of the work feeder;

Fig. 4 is a front view of a feeder, a front cover being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a top and rear view of the work blade.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. l, the parts being shown in a centralposition and to smaller scale.

Fig. 7 is a side view of a standard.

Heretofore barrel rollers have been ground in very large quantitiesaccording to the method of patent to Cramer 2,218,982 and by machinessimilar to Cramer 2,156,562. These machines ground rollers in onedirection of oscillation, the other stroke being idle. Attempts havebeen made to grind rollers in both directions of oscillation somewhat assuggested by the Binns Patent 1,654,236 but success was not obtained.

When grinding rollers which are curved lengthwise, such as barrelrollers, the gringing wheel G has a concave profile being curved on aradius to fit the curvature of the work. A regulating wheel R oscillateswith respect to the grinding wheel around a center concentric with theconcavity of the grinding wheel. Both wheels preferably rotate onhorizontal axes, the grinding wheel downwardly at the work and theregulating wheel upwardly. The regulating wheel has two intersectingprofiles 2 and 4, each curved to fit the work. Oscillating as a unitwith the regulating wheel is a work blade 5 having two roller rests 6one on each side of an upstanding lug 8 at the center of the blade. Eachrest inclines downwardly towards the regulating wheel and is curvedlengthwise to fit the work. Each rest is open and unobstructed at oneend while the other end terminates in a flat locating face l0 each of a2 which will engage the flat end of a roller and push the rollerendwise. Each face is at a predetermined distance from the center ordeepest portion of the concave rest, this distance being equal to thedistance from the end face of a roller to its plane of maximum diameter.with the flat end of a roller firmly against the face It, the rolleraxis is located perpendicular to the face in and the periphery of theroller will then fit the concave rest and the regulating wheel. Thenumeral It in Fig. 5 indicates a plane through the middle of a rollerrest and perpendicular to the base of the machine. The center ofcurvature of the rest is not in this plane but is located in a plane l6parallel to the face l0 and inclined at a small angle to the plane it.As a result each rest has a little slope and each roller is supportedwith its axis slightly tilted or skewed out of the horizontal and hencewill be urged endwise against the locating face Ill when rotated betweenthe wheels.

The blade is clamped in a recess at the front of a standard l8 which isalso arcuately recessed at 20 to accommodate the regulating wheel and tolet it approach closely to the blade. As shown in Fig. 5, the blade isarcuately curved on one side to clear the grinding wheel, the other sidebein straight except for a little rounded recess to clear the rib formedat the intersection of the wheel surfaces 2 and 4. The standard has arecess 21 at one side for a clamping plate 22 having one end 24overhanging the bevelled end of the blade, the other end of the bladetaking under an overhang 25 of the standard. A cam plate 26 having aninclined surface is fastened to the top of the standard at each side,one cam plate extending over the plate 22. A finished roller slides downthis inclined surface when a thin stripper 28 is advanced over the lug 8before the oscillating unit swings from the loading position indicatedin Fig. l to the position of Fig. 6. The oscillating unit including thestandard and the blade, plus the regulating wheel with its driving meansmay be mounted and oscillated by any suitable mechanism such asindicated in Cramer 2,156,562. The stripper is a thin plate attached toa. projecting foot or pusher 30 on the lower end of an oscillating lever32 pivoted at 34 on a chute 36 down which the rollers move sidewise bygravity, the column of rollers first being supported on the foot 36.Then, as the lever oscillates to the-broken line position of Fig. 3, thelowermost roller drops in front of the foot onto an inclined surface 38and is afterwards pushed up the incline onto the blade.

There is a'similar chute It at each side of the grinding wheel and thecorresponding levers 32 are operated in succession. The rollers are fedendwise by any suitable feeder through a flexible pipe 40 and onto apair of spaced ledges 42 connected by a thin bridge piece 44 just behindthe vertical runway of the chute. A cover 45 shown only in Fig. 3 closesthe front of the runway. Behind the bridge piece 44, the spaced ledgesform a slot in which the lever 32 can oscillate, the front of the leverhaving a cut-out recess at 46 to clear the bridge piece ll. The upperend of each chute has a horizontal extension 41 secured to a horizontalsupporting plate 48 carrying a cylinder 50 whos piston rod 52 isconnected by a link 54 to the upper end of the lever 32. The front endof the plate 48 is slotted to accommodate oscillation of the lever.Anticlockwise oscillation of the lever pushes a roller from the spacedledges l2 and the bridge piece 44 into the vertical runway while thelowest roller in the runway drops onto the incline 38 in front of thefoot 30. Clockwise oscillation of the lever pushes this roller onto itsrest while the upper portion of the lever frees another roller forendwise advance ready to be pushed sidewise into the runway.

Fig. 1 shows the oscillating unit swung to one limit, the letter Aindicating a finished roller about to be ejected and the letter Bindicating a new roller pushed forward by the foot 30 onto the restwhere it engages the suriace 2 of the regulating wheel. The stripper 28is carried forward close to but above the lug 8 and between the rollersA and B. As the unit swings to the position of Fig. 6, the finishedroller A is arrested by the stripper and slides down the incline of thecam plate 26. The new roller .8 is urged against its locating face I!)due to its rotation on a slightly tilted axis and is pushed endwisealong the arcuate face of the grinding wheel. In the meantime at theopposite side of the grinding wheel another roller C drops down in frontof the foot 30 of the opposite feeder ready to be advanced onto theempty rest when the roller B has been ground and carried past the feederto ejecting position. Upon clockwise swinging, this roller B is strippedand the roller C is carried along the grinding wheel and ground on therest previously occupied by roller A. The roller rests preferablysupport the rollers with their axes slightly above the plane connectingthe wheel axes.

I claim:

1. In a machine for grinding rollers which are curved lengthwise, agrinding wheel having a curved profile corresponding to the curvature ofthe rollers, a regulating wheel having a pair of adjacent profilescorresponding to the curvature of the rollers, a work blade between thewheels, the regulating wheel and the work blade being oscillatable as aunit about an axis extending through the center of curvature of thegrinding wheel profile, and the work blade having a pair of roller restsconfronting the adjacent profiles .of the regulating wheel.

2. In a machine according to claim 1, each roller rest being generallysloped lengthwise to hold a roller slightly skewed with respect to theroller engaging surface of the regulating wheel.

3. In a machine according to claim 1, each roller rest beingunobstructed at its exposed end and having a roller locating and pushingface at the other end.

4. In a machine for grinding rollers which are curved lengthwise, agrinding wheel having a curved profile corresponding to the curvature ofthe rollers, a regulating wheel having a pair of adjacent profilescorresponding to the curvature of the rollers, a work blade between thewheels, the regulating wheel and work blade being oscillatable as aunit, the work blade having a pair of roller rests confronting theadjacent profiles of the regulating wheel, and means at each side of thegrinding wheel to move a new roller sidewise onto one roller rest, andthe oscillating unit swinging the other rest beyond said one rest torelease a finished roller therefrom.

5. In a machine for grinding rollers which are curved lengthwise, agrinding wheel having a curved profile corresponding to the curvature ofthe rollers, a regulating wheel having a pair of adjacent profilescorresponding to the curvature of the rollers, a work blade between thewheels, the regulating wheel and work blade being oscillatable as aunit, the work blade having a, pair of roller rests confronting theadjacent profiles of the regulating wheel, means at each side of thegrinding wheel to move a new roller sidewise onto one roller rest, and astripper carried by said means to strip a finished roller from the otherrest.

6. In a machine for grinding rollers which are curved lengthwise, agrinding wheel having a curved profile corresponding to the curvature ofthe rollers, a regulating wheel having two intersecting profilescorresponding to the curvature of the rollers, a work blade in thethroat between the wheels and having a pair of roller rests curvedlengthwise to fit the curvature of the rollers, the regulating wheel andthe work blade on the one hand and the grinding wheel on the other handhaving relative oscillation about an axis extending through the centerof curvature of the grinding wheel profile, and means at each side ofthe grinding wheel for removing a finished roller from one; rest anddelivering a new roller to the other res 7. In a machine for grindingrollers, a grinding wheel, a regulating wheel having a pair ofintersecting profiles, a pair of roller rests between the wheels andeach confronting one of the profiles On the regulating wheel, means forfixing the roller rests with respect to the regulating wheel with eachrest in immediate and permanent adjacence to one of said intersectingprofiles, the regulating wheel and the roller rests being mounted tooscillate as a unit with respect to the grinding wheel to traverserollers in succession across the full width of the grinding wheel inalternating directions.

8. In a machine according to claim 7, the roller rests incliningdownwardly away from each other at a small angle to skew the rollerswith respect to the regulating wheel.

9. In a machine for grinding rollers, a grinding wheel, a regulatingwheel having a pair of intersecting profiles, a. work blade between thewheels and having a pair of roller rests each confronting one of theprofiles on the regulating wheel and being fixed with respect thereto,an upstanding lug between the rests and having roller locatin andpushing faces at adjacent ends of the roller rests, the regulating wheeland blade being mounted to oscillate as a unit with respect to thegrinding wheel.

10. In a machine for grinding barrel shaped rollers, a grinding wheelhaving a concave profile, a regulating wheel having twin profiles curvedabout difierent centers but having the same radius of curvature as theconcave profile of the grinding wheel, twin roller rests, eachconfronting one of the profiles of the regulating wheel, the regulatingwheel and the roller rests on the one hand and the grinding wheel on theother hand having relative oscillation around an axis, and means forloading one roller on one rest and releasing another from the other restat the end portion of each stroke of oscillation.

11. In a machine for grinding barrel shaped rollers, a grinding wheel, aregulating wheel having a pair of intersecting profiles, a pair ofroller rests in the throat between the wheels and each rest confrontingone of the profiles on the regulating wheel, the regulating wheel andthe roller rests being mounted to oscillate as a unit with respect tothe grinding wheel to traverse rollers in succession across the grindingwheel in alternating directions, a runway at each side of the grindingthroat to hold a column of rollers, and

an oscillating member movable across the run- 6 the blade with respectto the regulating wheel with each of the rests in permanent adjacence toone of said surfaces of revolution, the regulating wheel and the bladebeing oscillatable as a unit to carry the rollers along the entire widthof the grinding wheel.

14. The method of centerless grinding rollers between a grinding wheeland a regulating wheel having two intersecting peripheral surfaces,which consists in feeding a roller radially of and into peripheralrolling contact with one of the intersecting surfaces, moving theregulating wheel and the roller as a unit in one direction to carry theroller periphery across the full width of the grinding wheel, removingthe roller, feeding a second roller into peripheral rolling contact withthe other intersecting surface, and moving the regulating wheel and theroller as a unit in the opposite direction to carry the second rolleracross the full width of the grinding wheel.

RAYMOND H. CRAMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,611,135 Sandford Dec. 14, 19261,654,236 Binns Dec. 27, 1927 2,156,562 Cramer May 2, 1939 2,205,468Cramer June 25, 1940

